Okla. Stat. tit. 59, § 59-588

optometrist - Evidence of violations - Criminal and civil penalties

- Students and instructors.

A. No person shall practice optometry in this state or make any

tests or measurements of the human eye for diagnostic purposes

unless said person has been issued a certificate pursuant to the

provisions of Section 584 of this title or is a physician or surgeon

authorized to practice medicine in this state. No person shall

impersonate a registered optometrist. No person shall buy, sell or

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 59. Professions and Occupations Page 613

obtain in any manner a certificate of registration or exemption

issued to another. Practicing or offering to practice optometry, or

the public representation of being qualified to practice optometry,

by any person not authorized to practice optometry shall be

sufficient evidence of the violation of the provisions of Sections

581 through 604 of this title. No optometrist shall aid or abet any

person not authorized to practice optometry in this state to

practice optometry. Any person who violates any of the provisions

of Sections 581 through 604 of this title shall be deemed guilty of

a misdemeanor, and upon conviction for each offense, shall be

punished by a fine of not less than Fifty Dollars ($50.00), nor more

than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or imprisonment in the county

jail not less than thirty (30) days, nor more than ninety (90) days,

or by both fine and imprisonment.

B. In addition to the criminal penalties prescribed above, any

natural person, partnership, or business entity, found by a

preponderance of the evidence to have practiced optometry within the

State of Oklahoma without a currently valid license or certificate

issued by the Board, or to have dispensed, supplied, fitted,

adjusted, adapted, or in any manner applied contact lenses to the

eyes of a person whether or not those contact lenses are designed to

aid or correct human vision or have no prescription power or are

cosmetic contact lenses, without a full contact lens prescription

issued by a person licensed pursuant to Chapter 11, Chapter 13 or

Chapter 14 of this title, shall, after notice and an opportunity to

be heard pursuant to the Board's rules and Article II of the

Administrative Procedures Act, be liable for a civil administrative

penalty of at least One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) but not more than

Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500.00) for each instance of

unlicensed practice of optometry. This provision shall not apply to

any duly-licensed physician authorized to practice medicine and/or

surgery under the laws of the State of Oklahoma and any business

entity authorized to practice medicine or optometry in the State of

Oklahoma. Any administrative order or settlement agreement imposing

a civil administrative penalty pursuant to this section may be

enforced in the same manner as civil judgments in this state. The

Board may file an application to enforce an administrative order or

settlement agreement in the district court of Oklahoma County. Any

person aggrieved by a final agency order of the Board may obtain

judicial review in accordance with the Oklahoma Administrative

Procedures Act. All money received as civil administrative

penalties shall be placed in the operational account of the Board.

C. Nothing in the provisions of Sections 581 through 604 of

this title shall prohibit the performance of routine visual

screening by a person not licensed to practice optometry in this

state. Nothing in this section shall prohibit an optometry student

officially enrolled in a college of optometry which is approved by

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the State Regents for Higher Education from performing educational

functions within the institution or prohibit an instructor in such

optometry college from practicing optometry so long as such

practitioner is licensed in any state and his or her practice is
t

officially enrolled in a college of optometry which is approved by

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the State Regents for Higher Education from performing educational

functions within the institution or prohibit an instructor in such

optometry college from practicing optometry so long as such

practitioner is licensed in any state and his or her practice is

limited to instruction of optometry students in an accredited

Oklahoma college of optometry or state or federal hospital which is

utilized as a teaching institution for students of optometry,

provided such instructor has been issued a temporary license by the

Oklahoma Board of Examiners in Optometry.